Thursday, February 17, 2011

Al Mehan - Battle of Montreal

1157.4lb squat - 771.6lb bench - 727.5lb deadlift  =  2657 total


THIS WAS A PRIVILEGE TO SEE!!

A little on Al Mehan:
At my very first meet back in May 2009 I had the pleasure of watching Mr. Al Mehan lift.  Willie told me all about him.  About how crazy he is, how intense, how strong...and most of all how passionate about powerlifting this guy is.  I saw him walking out back, walking with a purpose psyched up.   His shirt was off and as he passed on his back was a tattoo that said "HARDCORE" along with a heavily loaded barbell across his shoulders.  THIS GUY LIVED TO LIFT.


During the meet I got to talk to him.  Not at all what you would expect by his intimidating looks.  Very articulate, soft spoken and down to earth.  He asked me what I did before powerlifting and then we ended up talking about a couple of bobsledders that he knows.


He has since then been very supportive of my lifting and always a positive person whenever I have had the chance to talk to him.  He's slowly trying to get me to the dark side and get me in equipment.  He even gave me a bench shirt and squat suit after my first equipped meet where my equipment was beyond sub par....  But at the same time he keeps telling me to go raw as long as I can until I hit some unfathomable numbers...and then to throw on some equipment.


The one thing about this guy is this....HE LOVES POWERLIFTING.  He has a sweeter set up in his home than most powerlifting gyms in North America and he has been travelling the globe to compete for longer than anybody I can think of.  And it takes a different kind of competitor to cross an ocean and compete.  A lot of lifters only compete in their own backyards and then call it a 'world championship' with their friends as judges and all competitors are within a five mile radius.  That is not a World Championship.  World Championships have people from all over the globe...period.  And Mehan has been traveling to these for a loooooooooong time.
   Lifters like Andy Bolton and Ed Coan will call him their friend.  And many many many lifters across the globe and especially in Canada are simply inspired.
Anyway, I could about this all day.....good to see him hit some CRAZY numbers!!